Alex Ellinghausen photo essay: Inside Australia's Uighur community

32 Images

For the members of Australia’s Uighur community, stories of intimidation, harassment and surveillance are not unusual. Feeling increasingly helpless and desperate, they have gone public with their stories and identities despite the risks.

November 17, 2018 — 11.45pm

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Horigul Yusuf now lives in Adelaide but she cries as she speaks about her brother, Abdulahad Yusuf, who is in an internment camp in China. “We live in this country freely and without difficulty," she says. "But at the moment, it’s so hard for us ... I don’t want to socialise with anyone, I just want to be at home and think about my family,” she says.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

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All of Horigul Yusuf’s brothers have been detained in internment camps or sentenced to prison. The 52-year-old last spoke to her elderly parents on October 22, 2017. “It was a short and sharp conversation,” she says. Her parents warned her to cease contact for fear of being sent to prison.
Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

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Horigul Yusuf is comforted by her son Hamza Shamseden as she speaks about her brother who remains in China.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

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Many of the Uighurs spoken to by Fairfax Media say they struggle to enjoy their freedom in Australia knowing the difficulties faced by their relatives in China.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

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Kurvangul Tursun cooks lamb pilaf in the backyard of her home in Adelaide.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

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A traditional meal is cooked to share with family and friends.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

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Abdullah Mu and Hamdulah Muhammad having lunch at home in Adelaide, home to about half of Australia's 3000-strong Uighur community.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

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Arafat Tursun and Yusuf Muhammad playing at their home in Adelaide.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

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Abdullah Mu, Yusuf Muhammad, Yunus Mu and Hamdulah Muhammad playing soccer in the backyard at their home in Adelaide.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

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Shir Yarmuhammad and Renagul Tursun with daughter Khadija Yarmuhammad at their home in Adelaide. Tursun has not been in contact with relatives since December 2017 but understands her younger brother and two cousins have been detained.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

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Shir Yarmuhammad and Renagul Tursun with their daughter Khadija Yarmuhammad.
“Even after coming to Australia, although we live in a safe country, day and night we live in fear and trauma because so much of our family are living such a stressful life over there and just waiting to be knocked down by the government,” Tursun says.
Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

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Mahbuba Alim in Adelaide. Since first coming under Chinese rule in the 18th century, the region now called Xinjiang has experienced occasional independence and autonomy. The region was incorporated into the newly established People’s Republic of China. In the decades since, the CCP has faced ongoing resistance.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

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Men from the Uighur community greet each other after Friday prayers at a mosque in Adelaide. China’s crackdown against Muslim minorities is aimed to socially engineer their identity to make them more loyal to the CCP, says Maya Wang, senior China researcher for Human Rights Watch.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

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Friday prayers at a mosque attended by members of the Uighur community in Adelaide.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

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Uighur men during evening prayers in the prayer room of a Uighur restaurant - that used to be a church - in Adelaide.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

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Polat Abdulla recites the Koran in his Adelaide home.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

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A mural of the Tenri Tagh mountains on the wall of Tarim restaurant's owner Akil Ruzeaji.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

Bilal Oguz, 5, views photos of relatives who have gone missing or are in internment camps.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

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Meyassar Adham in Adelaide. Fairfax Media has conducted extensive interviews with more than a dozen Uighurs in Adelaide; all have relatives in detention and are struggling with the burden of knowing - or not knowing - the fate of parents, siblings, partners, grandparents, cousins, uncles, aunties and friends swept up in the unprecedented crackdown against Muslim minorities in China.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

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Shahida Mahpirof in traditional attire during East Turkestan National Day celebrations in Adelaide.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

Sayfudin Shamseden's photo album of relatives and friends who have died, gone missing or are in internment camps. The stories of Australia's Uighur community - while consistent with a growing body of information aired by journalists, academics, human rights groups and the United Nations - are difficult to independently verify. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

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Uighur children during soccer training in Adelaide.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

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Uighur children during soccer training in Adelaide.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

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Uighur children Efruz, Elif and Abdukuddus playing at their home in Adelaide.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

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Mujahid Yusuf, Munireh Yusuf, Eyyub Yusuf and Maryam Yusuf during East Turkestan National Day celebrations in Adelaide. The province of Xinjiang in China's north-west is called East Turkestan by independence-minded Muslim minorities.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

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Almas Nizamdin checks the news on the Uighur community on his phone.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

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Muhammad Abdullah watches television at his home. James Leibold, an expert on Chinese ethnic policy at La Trobe University, says China has faced a problem with Islamist extremism but that its response has been “completely disproportionate” and counter-productive.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

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Muhammad Abdullah with a photo of his fiancee, Nursa Mehmetjan, who is in an internment camp.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

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It is not known how many people live in detention in north-western China and the 13 million people who live in the region often do so under severe control not dissimilar to life in internment facilities. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

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Uighur family Efruz, Kudrat Yilmaz, Abdukuddus, Elif, Nursiman Heytahun and Melek at their home in Adelaide. Last week, Australia was among 13 governments to raise the Xinjiang crackdown in a scheduled UN Human Rights Council review of China’s record. Australia’s representatives outlined “alarm at the numerous reports of large numbers of ethnic Uighurs and other Muslim groups held incommunicado and often for long periods without being charged or tried”. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen